Sandberg balancing roles of coach, fan favorite

Press-Register, Chip EnglishTennessee Smokies coach Ryne Sandberg is enjoying his role as a minor league coach.

As he travels around the Southern League, leading his Tennessee Smokies ball club, Ryne Sandberg says he is reminded every day of the reach and passion that surrounds baseball.

"I find it interesting they're following what I'm doing," said Sandberg, a Hall of Fame inductee who played almost his entire career for the Chicago Cubs.

In his first season as the Smokies' manager and his third season as a minor league skipper, Sandberg said everywhere he goes baseball fans are there to say hello or share a story. He understands the emotions well.

"I'm the same way," he said, noting that before bringing the Smokies to Mobile's Hank Aaron Stadium for a five-game series against the BayBears that began Monday night, he had been in Cooperstown for Sunday's enshrinement ceremony for Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson. "For me (being at the Hall of Fame) is still like being a kid in a candy store. It's a tremendous weekend, one of a kind in all of sports."

So while he knows his job is important and time consuming, Sandberg has learned to live a dual role at the ball park: Smokies manager and fan favorite.

"I'm still amazed at the number of baseball fans and Cubs fans there are everywhere, the people that want an autograph with HOF (Hall of Fame) on it or want to pose for a picture," he said. "I understand it because I just got back from the Hall of Fame and while I was there I got some autographs for myself."

Sandberg earned 10 All-Star Game appearances and nine Gold Gloves. He was the 1984 National League MVP and earned seven Silver Slugger awards. A career .285 hitter, Sandberg had his No. 23 -- the number he wears with the Smokies -- retired by the Cubs.

Of course, there's the "Sandberg Game," so designated because many believe it is the first time Sandberg's talent and his potential were display to a national audience. The game, played at Wrigley Field on June 23, 1984, was broadcast by NBC-TV, when regular season games weren't on TV that often. The Cubs were facing the rival St. Louis Cardinals, who claimed a 9-8 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth against ace closer Bruce Sutter.

Sandberg hit a solo homer off Sutter, the game's best closer at the time, to tie the game. St. Louis scored two runs in the top of the 10th and Sutter was still on the mound when Sandberg came back up to the plate in the 10th and hit another home run, tying the game at 11-11. The Cubs would go on to win it in the 12th and Sandberg, who was 5-for-6 with seven runs batted in, was part of Cubs lore.

Sandberg said the course he took to find his place with the Cubs is one he tries to relay to his players today.

"I was the starting shortstop for my high school, the starting quarterback and the starting point guard on the basketball team. I was the best athlete in my school, and most of these guys were the best athlete in their schools. My story shows them how the more value you make yourself -- the more positions you can play and things you can do -- the better chance you have of getting to the big leagues. And it's about getting to the major leagues; that's the goal out here."

After a successful managing career in Class A for the Cubs' organization, Sandberg was promoted to the Smokies, the Cubs' Class AA team.

"I think it surprised me what it entails out here, being a minor league manager," Sandberg said. "I'm working my tail off every day, doing a lot of different things."

The Hall of Famer said he would one day like the opportunity to be a manager at the major league level.

For the next few days, his job is to lead the Smokies against the Mobile BayBears in a stadium named for a fellow Hall of Famer.